PNB Housing Fin clarifies on rumours about Omaxe group loan exposure

New Delhi, Dec 11 () PNB Housing Finance Ltd (PNBHFL) on Wednesday said its exposure to the Omaxe group stood at over Rs 456 crore at the end of September.

In a regulatory filing to exchanges, PNBHFL said the information about loan exposure to Omaxe group is "with reference to the information floating in the social media regarding PNB Housing's exposure to the Omaxe group".

There were rumours that the real estate firm has defaulted on its loan repayment.

Giving a synopsis of its exposure, including past and ongoing facilities, to Omaxe group, PNB Housing Finance said it has sanctioned Rs 650 crore of term loan to the group. Out of that, Rs 635 crore has been disbursed and the principal outstanding as on September 30, 2019, stood at Rs 456 crore.

Giving an account of past exposure to Omaxe during March 2008 to June 2015, the housing financier said it disbursed a total of 189.50 crore during this period and the last tranche of Rs 100 crore loan was repaid in December 2018.

In a break-up of ongoing loan facilities to Omaxe Group, PNBHFL said loan of Rs 200 crore was sanctioned and disbursed for the project 'The Lake Phase-1' in January 2016.

Outstanding amount as on September 30 stood at Rs 71.5 crore and the project is part of the Omaxe City, developed at Chandigarh Extension.

Principal repayment started in May 2018. As on September 2019, the account was in stage-1, the project is 85 per cent complete and 74 per cent sold.

Sales are little slow due to market conditions, it said adding that a total of 540 units were sold till June 2019, while 191 units were unsold. The security value is Rs 141 crore providing security cover of 2.1 times.

Likewise, for the Lake Phase-2 project, Rs 250 crore was disbursed in Mar 2018. The outstanding amount by the end of September stood at Rs 206.6 crore and the principal repayment started since December 2018.

"As on September 30, 2019, the account was in stage-1. The project is 75 per cent completed and 37 per cent units sold. Sales are little slow due to the market conditions," PNB Housing said.

In this project, 226 units were sold up to June 2019 and 386 units were unsold.

"Security value is Rs 268 crore, providing security cover of 1.37 times. Over and above the project securities, we have additional collateral worth Rs 338 crore, the overall security cover is 2.84 times for Lake Phase-1 and Lake Phase-2," it said.

Besides, the company sanctioned Rs 200 crore for Project Grand Omaxe Lucknow in January 2018.

"Out of this, Rs 185 crore is disbursed and outstanding as on September 30 is Rs 178 crore. Principal repayment started in one facility from August 2019 and will start in second facility from February 2020," it added.

It said the project was in stage 1 as on September 30, which is 22 per cent completed against projection of 37 per cent.

"Construction is slow because the developer had to do piling work due to soft soil...Security value is Rs 278 crore, providing security cover of 1.6 times," it added. KPM HRS